Abthue t



I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR T. GREENOUGH AND VILLIAM H. BOARDMAN, OF FRANKLIN, NEV JERSEY, ASSIGNORS TO ANDREW BECK AND W. IRVING SNYDER, BOTH OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

TENNIS-RACQUET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent uNo, 293,573, dated February 12, 1884.

Application filed December-19,1883. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom t may concern.:

Be it known that we, ARTHUR T. GREEN- oUe-H and WILLIAM H. BOARDMAN, both of Franklin, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have made certain new and usef ul Improvements in Lawn-Tennis Racquets, not heretofore known or used; and we hereby declare the following to be a full and clear description of the same, reference being Ahad to Io the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure lis a face View of the entire racquet. Fig. 2 is a section of a portion of the bowl with a tennis-ball resting thereon. Fig. 3 is asection of the handle of the racquet at xx, Fig. 1;

i 5 and Fig. lis a section of the rim of the bowl.

Our invention relates to the construction of the bowl of whatis known as a lawn-tennis racquet and the shaping of the rim surrounding the strings, the obj ect being to obtain the 2o most available and serviceable face or stringsurface which is interfered with as little as possible by the surrounding rim, while at the same time there may be such a distribution of weight between the bowl and handle as to pro- 2 5 duce a proper balance of the whole racquet.

In the drawings, A is the handle of the racquet,.and B is the bowl or head, which forms the batting surface, usually constructed of strings of gut crossing each other and passing 3o through a surrounding rim,-O.

In the construction of tennis-racquets it is necessary that the rim C, forming the outer portion of thebowl ,should have great strength, so as to bear sudden strains, and that the bowl 3 5 should be of such form and construction that it will Vbear the tension of the strings and keep them taut without losing shape. In order to retain this required strength of rim in the racquets heretofore manufactured, very little of 65 the wood ofthe rim has been cut away, and the' rim has been made with the inner side either square, as on the outer edges, or slightly rounded, as shown by the dotted lines at ain Fig. 2. We have found by experiment that such a formation of rim materially interferes with the construction of a good racquet, as the weight of wood in the rim requires acorresponding weight in the handle, in order that the whole .shown in Fig. 3.

- racquet shall be well balanced, thereby mak ing it necessary to have a comparatively very 5o heavy racquet if the bowl or batting-surface be above a medium size." The rim on the inside, being at right angles with the stringed surface, has also been found to interfere with the tennisball when it strikes near the edge ofthe bowl, as 5 5 the ball,when it impinges against such a rim, will not rebound in the direction intended. In order to overcome these defects, -we have constructed the bowl with, the inner edge of the rim O chamfered or cut away, as'shown in Figs. 6o 2 and 4, so that the ball, when striking near the edge of the bowl B, will not be interfered with by the rim, and the rim being lightened by the cutting away of vits inner edge, the bowl may be made much largerandof better shape with the'same weight of wood as the old form of rim would require. 4

In forming the inner side of the rim C it may be made slightly concave, as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 4,. if desired, instead of a straight 7o bevel, both for the purpose of still further lightening the bowl and presenting a better surface for the ball when it strikes near the edge, the strength of the rim not being materially effected even when the wood is reduced by a slightly concave form at this point. In the construction of this class of racquet the bowls have been made in various forms, all of an irregular shape and without reference to any mathematical principle of construction.

By experiment we have discovered that the most available batting-surface is obtained by having the sides of the bowl follow substantially imaginary lines (as shown by dotted lines b b,Fig. 1 drawn from apoint at the center ofthe 85 end of the handle of the racquet to the base of the bowl, the lines diverging equally from the center of the handle. In order, however, to furnish the rim()` of the bowl with sufficient spring to keep the Stringing taut, it is neces` 9o sary that its sides and base should be slightly bowed, instead of on astraight line, as will appear in Fig. 1. The handle is nearly square in form, with the corners slightly rounded, as

What we claim as our invention,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. A tennis-racquet having astringed bowl,

B, formed by a rim, C, shaped so that its sides will follow substantially lines which diverge I equally from the centerline of the handle and meet at the centei` ol" the end of the handle, as shown in Fig. l, as and for the purposes shown and described.

2. A tennis racquet or bat with rim U beveled or chaint'ered on theinner face surrounding the strings, substantially as shown and described.

3. A tennisiaequet with riln C ehamfeled o1' beveled on the inner edge, so that the plane ofthe ehami'er oi bevel is substantiallyv tangent to the surface of a ball which touches the snrfaee of the stringed portion and the rim at the same time, as and i'oi the purpose shown and described.

el. In a tennis racquet or bat, the chainfeied or beveled rim C, formed and shaped to forni a bowl to receive strings, as shown in Fig. l, in combination with a handle7 A, substantially as shown and described.

5. In a iennis-iaequet, the rim G,with its inner edge eut away so as to form a concave bevel from the strings to the face of the rim, substantially as shown and described.

ARTHUR T. GREENOUGH. XVM. H. BOARDMAN.

Nl'vitilesses:

Lne Homer, A. E. Mense. 

